About Willie Pettigrew
Born 1953. Willie Pettigrew is a British association football player.
William Haddow Pettigrew (born 2 October 1953) is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a striker for Motherwell, Dundee United, Hearts, Morton and Hamilton Academical. Pettigrew also represented Scotland and the Scottish League XI.
Club career Pettigrew started his career with Hibernian, but left them for junior club East Kilbride Thistle after failing to make a first-team breakthrough.
He joined Motherwell in 1972, where he had his most prolific goalscoring spell, averaging better than a goal every two league games. He ended the 1975β76 season as the highest scorer in the Scottish Premier Division at the age of 22. He repeated the feat when two years later in 1977β78. In 2019 it was announced that Pettigrew was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame.
In 1979, Dundee United purchased Pettigrew for Β£100,000. He went on to win the 1979 Scottish League Cup Final with United, scoring two goals in a 3β0 replay win against Aberdeen. He also played in the winning 1980 Final team, but this time the goals were scored by the two strikers who were the club's first choice pairing for the next few seasons, Paul Sturrock and Davie Dodds.
In 1981, Pettigrew moved to Heart of Midlothian for a Β£120,000 fee, going on to achieve promotion to the Premier Division at the end of the 1982-83 season. He joined Morton in 1984 for one season, then ended his playing career the following season after playing a small number of games for Hamilton Academical.
International career It was at Motherwell that he won five caps for Scotland, 4 in 1976 and 1 in 1977. Scotland won all five games, with Pettigrew scoring a goal in each of his first two appearances. He also played in two games for the Scottish Football League XI in 1978 that both ended in 1-1 draws, giving Pettigrew an unbeaten career as an internationalist of seven games. He scored the Scottish League goal in the second of those two games. Having debuted for Scotland aged 22, his last full cap was aged 23 and his international career at all levels was over aged 25.
Honours Dundee United Scottish League Cup: 1979β80, 1980β81
Heart of Midlothian SFL First Division promotion: 1982β83
Scotland British Home Championship: 1976β77, 1977β78
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Important facts
People in Willie Pettigrew's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Willie Pettigrew's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Willie Pettigrew?
Scottish footballer (born 1953)
When was Willie Pettigrew born?
Willie Pettigrew was born on 2 October 1953 in Motherwell.
What is Willie Pettigrew's occupation?
Willie Pettigrew is an association football player.
What nationality is Willie Pettigrew?
Willie Pettigrew is British.
Sources & further reading
Β· Wikipedia: Willie Pettigrew
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Willie Pettigrew. https://biography.guide/willie-pettigrew/
MLA: "Willie Pettigrew." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/willie-pettigrew/.
Chicago: "Willie Pettigrew." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/willie-pettigrew/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-20 Β· Spot an error? Report a correction.
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